Janssen, Claire

’85 BS in Accounting

Chief Financial Officer, Opus West Corporation

At Opus West Corporation, Janssen oversees the accounting, forecasting and analysis, human resources and IT departments for their six-state operating region of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. She also serves as president of the National Association of Real Estate Companies (NAREC), and sits on the Phoenix Advisory Board for Teach for America.

Prior to joining Opus, Janssen was a real estate due diligence consultant for Snyder Kearney, a nationwide provider of corporate and securities services to securities broker-dealer firms and other clients. She also served as vice president of accounting for Wells Real Estate of Atlanta and vice president of institutional accounting and reporting, vice president of business/credit analysis and director of corporate accounting/taxation for Equitable Real Estate/Lend Lease. In addition, she spent five years in public accounting in Washington, D.C., and Virginia with Beers + Cutler, the largest CPA firm based in the region.

Janssen says, “My business degree at Mason was really the foundation and launching point of my career. The curriculum and experience challenged me and opened up my eyes to the business world.”

Her advice to students, “The most important thing is to focus on what value you are adding to the company; take initiative, volunteer to improve current processes, set goals as you go along and follow through with results!”